On the topic of sexualization in comics and how it is quite literally written and drawn into female characters, I think of Batgirl 2000 issue #39. I think about how, on the SAME page that Cass admits her overwhelming discomfort at being perceived as a body first and a person second, she is being depicted like a pin-up model.
A full-body panel, with the curves of her body accentuated in long, sweeping lines. Showing off the very bikini that Barbara says she "should never have made [Cass] wear..." in an open and unassuming posture, like she hasn't just opened up about her wild distress at being subject to objectifying stares. The writing itself presented an incredibly important message, especially for female audiences, but who was that full-body panel really for?
